Abstract

POVEDA, Jonathan; NUNEZ, Sonia  and  ARAUZ, Gloria. Disfunción Endotelial en el paciente diabético Tipo 2. Rev. costarric. cardiol [online]. 2003, vol.5, n.3, pp.19-23. ISSN 1409-4142.

Introduction: Endothelial dysfunction is a common accepted surrogate marker of atherosclerotic disease. It’s early detection allows us to determine which patients need attention in order to stop the progression of the vascular disease. Since diabetic patients have a high prevalence of cardiovascular complications, the early detection of this phenomenon is of capital importance for their prognosis. Methods: Using brachial Doppler during rest, ischemia and post- nitroglycerin ischemia, the vascular reactivity of the vessel was obtained in 10 healthy patients and 20 type 2 diabetic patients. This data was correlated with their glycosilated hemoglobin levels and lipid profiles. Their endothelium derived vasodilatation and their nitroglycerin derived vasodilatation were expressed as the percentage of change in the luminal diameter of the vessel and both of them were reduced in the diabetic patients with a statistical significance (5.57% vs. 9.97% for the control patients p =0.04, y 21.49% vs. 12.64%, p= 0.04 for the diabetic patients). These alterations correlated with the years of evolution of the disease and the total colesterol levels as well as the LDL and tryglicerides levels. Conclusion: The Brachial Doppler study is a useful tool to detect endothelial dysfunction as an early stage of atherosclerosis in high risk patients and allows the treatment of the factors that might influence this phenomenon in order to improve their prognosis.

Keywords : Disfunción Endotelial; Diabetes Mellitus.